Web Development is a vital part of any kind of business or organization. Especially, who developed their website with the latest advancement in the niche of technology. We all know that web development is an ongoing procedure. It always requires some additional and new features to improve the usability and user experience of the site. And this is mainly due to the reason that we interact more and more on the internet.
During the last few years, there has been a big shift in the way software is built. Full-stack development and Mean stack development are two of the coolest patterns used nowadays. It’s important to understand the difference between these two developing methodologies because your business model depends on it. If you don’t know how to design a great interface for your web application, users will get bored and you’ll have a high attrition rate.
If you are planning to hire a developer with the purpose of building a complex website or web application, you might have questions like who is better to go with, Full Stack web developer or Mean Stack web developer. Before we move ahead and discuss in detail about both the technologies, let’s understand what they precisely mean.
Who is a Full Stack Developer?
A full-stack web developer is a developer who has mastered both front-end and back-end web development. This includes having a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the software development process. The “full stack” refers to the fact that a full-stack developer has knowledge and experience with both front-end and back-end development.
A “full stack” web developer is a generalist, as opposed to a specialist. While full stack developers may have an area of expertise, they are still expected to be able to work on the full stack, from database design to user interface design.
Full-stack web development is becoming more popular as businesses start building their own software products that require more complex integration between business logic and data storage layers. Software development companies are increasingly hiring full-stack developers because of the complexity involved in creating code for all layers of a product.
Benefits Of hiring Full-Stack developers –
Full stack developers are more efficient as they deal with multiple skills under one roof. Moreover, this enables companies to have a single point of contact for all their IT requirements. And this is where the benefits kick in. The benefits of using this technology over other solutions are:
Speed Up the Development Process: It takes a very long time to develop a website according to the traditional approach. But due to the expertise of full stack developers, it will take only half of this time. And if you are outsourcing your project, then it can be even faster than that.
Easier Time Management: Full stack developers will be able to take care of everything together. So, there is no need for them to divide their duties into front-end and back-end tasks. They will be able to manage everything together. And this means that there is no need for another person like a designer or UI/UX engineer in your team. You will be able to take care of everything with ease.
Save Money: The companies do not have to hire a developer who has a specialization in each technology, but they can hire a single developer, who has the domain knowledge of all the technologies. This will save them thousands of dollars.
What are the major disadvantages of using Full stack?
If you don’t have the training or patience to learn how to use something like this, it’s not for you. If you don’t understand the basics of your product, full stack is not for you. Technical expertise required. Full stack requires more technical expertise than other types of web development. It is for people who are building something with a non-traditional data model, with complex business logic, or with real-time constraints. Full stack developers are the only ones who can write code that reads and writes directly to MySQL when they need to work directly with the database, when they want to implement alternative storage methods when the SQL database doesn’t fit the needs of their app.
What is Mean Stack Development?
Mean stack basically is a modified version of the Full stack web development and unlike the full stack, the MEAN stack primarily focuses on MongoDB, Express, Angular, and Node JS. The name of “MEAN” is formed by combining these four open source technologies.
MongoDB
MongoDB is a database that helps in storing data in NoSQL format. It is highly flexible and easy to use. MongoDB can be used for storing documents with JSON data format which makes it more convenient to access the information stored in it. It is not just limited to storing data but can be used for developing applications with high scalability capacity.
Express.JS
Express.JS is a framework for Node JS which enables you to make your server-side code more organized and hence develop an application with enhanced performance. This helps in making applications more secure by adding security features like SSL certificates by default. It has built-in support for Mongoose, Jade template engine, and many other features. Express runs on Node JS which enables developers to create Web sites and APIs quickly without having to worry about setting up servers manually or writing tedious code.
AngularJS
AngularJS is used for creating single page applications that are dynamic in nature which enhances the user experience of the website or web application that you are developing using MEAN stack technology. By using this stack, it becomes possible to create dynamic web applications that have a great user interface and have improved functionality as well as better performance when compared to other similar web applications created using traditional methods.
Node JS
Node JS is a runtime environment that helps in running JavaScript on a server without needing any browser or plugin to execute it. This means that JavaScript can be executed on websites hosted on any server which makes the creation of interactive websites much easier when compared to languages like PHP or ASP where you need a server side scripting language along with a browser plugin for executing JavaScript code on the client side too. Using Node JS also helps in improving the speed of websites.
Benefits Of hiring Mean Stack developers;
The MEAN stack application comes with a number of benefits and here we will be discussing about them in detail:
1. Better performance: Mean Stack development encompasses all the necessary features that will enable you to develop efficient applications. It consists of many tools that will help in reducing load time, improve speed and reduce the number of files required to run your application. In addition to this, it can be integrated with any language or framework that you prefer. Using this technology would result in an application which performs faster and efficiently with less data.
2. Easy integration: A mean stack development can integrate with any of the language or framework easily without any extra effort from your side. It has a wide range of plugins and extensions available for jQuery, Ruby, Python, PHP etc. You can use any one according to your preference.
3. Lesser bugs: Mean stack developers follow strict coding standards so that they can reduce bugs in the application which makes it more efficient than others in functionality as well as performance point of view. They utilize all the robust tools available so that they can develop less buggy applications which are easy to maintain in the long run as well.
What are the major disadvantages of using mean stack?
The Mean Stack gives the user a high level of customization options, but it also comes with a high maintenance cost. The framework has many functionalities that can be customized according to each developer’s needs. In order to do so, it takes a lot of time and expertise from developers. This makes it difficult for new developers to understand the code and its functionality. It also comes with a high learning curve, which makes it difficult for new developers to get started with it.
Another disadvantage is that all the knowledge about this stack will be available only in written form which can be very difficult for new developers to learn from written documentation.
In comparison with other JavaScript based stacks, Mean Stack has been found to be more stable and less prone to change when compared with tools like jQuery or AngularJS which have been found to have more bugs in them. In addition, Mean Stack comes with a much higher level of JavaScript abstraction than these other tools do. It is also easier for developers to install and use it in comparison with other heavy JavaScript based tools like AngularJS or jQuery since they don’t take up much space on any device.
Conclusion
Depending on which stack you prefer depends on your company; if your company is more into Full Stack development then you might want to hire an experienced developer who has extensive knowledge in front-end and back-end development. They might be able to perfect both skill sets needed for building complex applications.
Mean stack developers are great for companies looking for faster results. They are nice because they use some tools which are already set up for you on the back end, so that you don’t have to figure out every single layer of code that’s needed for your project. They can speed up your development time by using some already made tools that are available to them on the back end.
They might be able to build out your project faster than a full stack version because they use different tools for different functions provided by their back end toolkit. For example, they use a CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) approach rather than an MVC approach. This means that instead of creating their own controllers, models, widgets out of thin air, they use pre-made Web APIs that are already built by other developers. This makes it easier for them to build smaller applications with less functionality with less effort required from them since they’re less technical.
Both Full Stack and Mean Stack Developers have their own set of pros and cons. You should understand that every domain has its own advantages and disadvantages. A programmer must always keep an open mind towards learning new technologies so that he/she can solve his/her problems with ease.
Want to learn more about the Mean Stack or Full stack? Feel free to contact us. You can also go through our blog for more details about the latest technologies, news, updates and articles.
